Saturday, December 02, 2006

Sneaked, unless it's snuck

I just came as close as I have in years to enacting the fanboy ritual of getting my program signed.

This was a relaxed, non-tired-from-work, matinee experience, different in feel from the fever dream of a buzzy opening night, but probably equally satisfying. It was the cushiony couch of contentment rather than the wild ride of discovery, delirium, &c.

Flipping through almost-signed program, by the way, we find that Anna Netrebko is frequently compared to Callas (premature much?) and that the Met is presenting the Magic Flute in a new English translation. There's about a 10% chance that's good news, if you ask me. Singing translations are second to maybe military occupations of sovereign nations in terms of likelihood of going horribly wrong. And, not to always privilege the dead over the living, there's always that English translation by that Auden fellow...

Did I say Don Carlo was (narratively) in an emotionally irretrievable medium? Because opera seria, now that's some hard shit to get really exercised about. And on top of everything else, there's no applause window after two of Ilia's big numbers.

This shows a particular lack of foresight on Mozart's part when Ilia is Dorothea Roschmann. Note to Mozart: Roschmann needs an applause window. Just give us a V-I and hold your horses with the recit. Don't let it happen again. Remember the time I said I wasn't going to use food metaphors for singing because it's facile and overly subjective? I'm going to do just one, just to keep a hand in. Dorothea Roschmann's voice is like raspberry puree served in an ivory dish made from the tusk of the last elephant and slurped up through a straw made of pink diamonds. Don't you think?

The weird thing is I'm not exactly sure what I want to hear her sing. The Countess, no doubt, Figaro and Capriccio. Daphne? A soprano Oktavian? (Shuddup, JSU.) Jenufa? Ok, here's my answer: anything she wants to sing. She gives the impression of a singer who nailed up her technique so long ago she is able to devote absolutely all of her energy to making it art.

The very best thing was maybe the duet with Kozena, about whom I have probably enthused to the point of great tiresomeness. Idamante wasn't as fulfilling as Dorabella, but it sure was an easy sing (which I noted in particular after Kirstine Jepson's interesting intermission chat the other day, in which she told Maggie J. something to the effect of "after the first time I got out there and sang ''non ho colpa" I called all my mezzo friends and asked, "why didn't you tell me how hard it is?!" p.s. have I mentioned how relaxed and engaging MJ seems as an interviewer? I feel inclined to weigh in after all the ludicrous moaning about her first season as an announcer) She and Roschmann reminded me of those postwar central European Mozart singers, actually, in many ways I can't quite put words to right now.

The two of them did absolutely all you could to inhabit the stylized storytelling of opera seria, although in this they may have been outshone by Alexandra Deshorties, vocally much, much improved since last I heard her. I can't say I love the basic sound but she's doing a lot with it and has really worked out a kind of fluid stage comportment for herself. D'Oreste was pretty nuts. She's the only member of the cast who seems to have hired a drag queen consultant for hand-movement seminars, which is too bad for the rest of them. Idomeneo, more than most operas, needs a little Paris is Burning to get things going.

I don't have a hell of a lot to say about Kobie van Rensburg. Wasn't at all disappointed, but there wasn't some moment I wanted to run home and tell everyone about. At the risk of relegating everyone else to a sum-it-up paragraph, here, Jeffrey Francis displayed admirable flexibility as Arbace, and Simon O'Neill tore it up pretty good as the high priest of Neptune. There was no real weakness in this cast, down to the Cretans (including an auditions favorite from a few years ago, the sweet-voiced Lisette Oropesa and ubiquitous and quite talented bass Andrew Gangestad, who I knew vaguely years ago and is also a nice fellow.)

By the way, my sources in the front row report that when the crown fell off Kozena's head in the last minutes of the opera, she was visibly almost cracking up, which I wish I'd seen. Everyone else just stood around in a very stately manner, trying to pretend that the Fumbling of the Crown is part of any first-rate coronation.

Tuesday's Boheme, and isn't there a Rigoletto this week? Opera burnout, here I come!

JSU: netrebko callas?JSU: ha ha haMaury: seriouslyJSU: ha! no, you kidMaury: and I like herJSU: they're both skinny!Maury: they're both from east of the mississippi. i dunno, i just report.Maury: "to whom Netrebko is routinely compared" says the programMaury: did you like my shout-out about soprano strauss roles? :)JSU: yeah, but you picked the wrong one ;)JSU: i'd prefer her marschallin...JSU: oh, btwJSU: i realized why i didn't think kozena was a sopranoMaury: the marschallin is a less interesting sing.Maury: why? JSU: cause she wasn't any good in mahler 4Maury: ahMaury: i missed itJSU: with the hubMaury: you suggested roeschmann as komponist, no?JSU: yesJSU: rosenkav is a lot beefierJSU: it's really a jugendlich roleMaury: i can never tell who will look dumb as a boy, though. i thougt kozena would.JSU: as a boy, she looks like a boyJSU: which, if you think about it, is unsurprising, considering her shapeJSU: roeschmann may look a bit like flagstad in fidelio or something tho, it's trueMaury: give me a heterosexual perspective: she's actually totaly hot, right? not just opera hot?JSU: yesJSU: andJSU: both ways, she looks like an extra from the lord of the ringsMaury: that's disturbingJSU: well, i was thinking about this thru 90% of her baroque recital last yr (maggie k)JSU: waitJSU: you didn't mention stephen milling!JSU: neither did i, mind youMaury: i'm not sure why i said te duet with koz was the best part, except as a transition. ilia's arias really were the best part.JSU: i thought elettra's first was the best part ;)JSU: well, maybe not, but close.Maury: huhMaury: i have trouble with her voiceJSU: somehow, it's what's been stuck in my head since wednesday thoMaury: love her hand gesturesJSU: yeah, the top is still artificial, even if it's solidifiedJSU: but it works, and there's a menacing boom somewhere near the bottom, so who caresJSU: 2 more chances!Maury: no, i liked it but i'm not really up for another idomeneoMaury: i did just pull Cestina Hrou (Czech for Fun!) off the shelf in case i need to express my approval to MKMaury: hezka hudba=beautiful music, i thinkMaury: velmi krasna hudba. very beautiful music. i don't feel like going through the book looking for the preterite so i can say "that was". I have forgotten most of the 1 quarter of Czech I studied[minor deletion about Boheme to protect the innocent]JSU: in fact, it's the only safe one with her to see, since the first is 'conducted' by domingo and the second is singles night (gaaaaak)Maury: they should make jenufa singles night [which, credit where it's due, was I may have been Jonathan's idea.]JSU: bluebeard's castle ;)Maury: american tragedy? :)JSU: btw, you didn't blog kozena's ornamentathonJSU: is it more ok in opera seria?Maury: oh, true. in opera seria it doesn't...jinx

I share your wild admiration for Roschmann. Curiously, the role I most want to hear her sing is Violetta. Just think about it! Also Mimi. And of course Contessa, which I think is coming up for her at the Met. Was a luscious, lustrous voice.

Hm..I knew why this was tickling me for so long. There once was a discussion on RMO that I participated in along with another regular poster to your blog regarding Strauss operas and mezzos vs. sopranos in roles such as Octavian. Perhaps some of the quotations I had found might be of interest. I'd include more, but I figure if you really want to, a quick google groups search will turn up really enlightening comments by aforementioned poster :)

Lehmann alludes to some of the difficulties of the [Farberin] in Five Operasby Richard Strauss, including the wide range (some phrases written "asthough for a low contralto"--her words) as well as the highlyinstrumental quality of the writing. In particular, she also mentionsa discussion she had with Strauss regarding the rather odd rangewriting for soprano. Lehmann recalls,

"...[Strauss] told me that he was terribly fond of hearing a sopranosinging at a lower pitch--not a true alto, that is, but the alwayssomewhat strange sound of a high voice being forced to sing below itsnatural register. 'Not every soprano has your unusual range,' headded. 'And every note has to be there, even if it is beingwhispered.'" (45)

Also interesting is the continuation of the book, concerning Octavian:

"On that same occasion I asked him why he had written the part ofOctavian...for a female voice. I remember how he looked at me inutter amazement. 'Have you ever seen a man young enough to playOctavian and at the same time experienced enough to be an accomplishedactor?' he asked. 'Where would you find someone like that? Besides,writing for three sopranos was a challenge. I think I did the rightthing.' I rather think so myself." (45)